Letters to the editor: Critical race theory, border, Interfaith Sanctuary, For the People Act, vaccines

Critical race theory

Even though “critical race theory” is more than 40 years old, there has been a considerable amount of confusion about it. According to the Education Week Report (May 18, 2021), “The core idea is that racism is a social construct and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.” I was a teacher for 28 years and never talked about bias or prejudice in our legal systems and policies, nor have I ever known a teacher to do so. However, it would be ignoring or dismissing the facts if you believe that bias or prejudice does not exist in many of our systems and policies. Unfortunately, ignoring or dismissing the facts seems to be a popular thing to do in our country today.

Cay Marquart, Boise

Border control

Regarding the letter “Idaho at the border,” I would agree with the writer that Congress is responsible for immigration law. To my recollection, virtually no significant change to immigration law has occurred for decades. But whether it is the Bush, Obama, Trump or Biden administration, the executive branch is responsible for enforcing immigration law. Law that has been relatively constant for years.

So while President Trump was setting records reducing illegal alien crossings, the Biden administration is setting records for illegal alien crossings. It is my firm belief the Biden administration wants to fill this country with the maximum number of illegal, undocumented aliens as it can possibly achieve. Observing politics since JFK, I have never seen an administration dismissing the rule of law so robustly and watching as thousands of our citizens and law enforcement members get run over by illegal aliens from all parts of the world.

John Nerison, Boise

Get the shot

The 2020-2021 school year was difficult for everyone. Parents, students and teachers had an educational experience never imagined. School boards and administrations had to balance learning and safety. Difficult decisions were made about remote learning and masks in the classroom. Everyone did their part to get through a challenging year.

Now it’s getting close to the start of the 2021-22 school year. Are you doing your part to ensure that our students can return to their classrooms? Our youngest students cannot make the choice to be vaccinated. Will they pay the price for your vaccine hesitancy? Will they return to remote learning and/or masks in the classroom? Instead of complaining and whining, step up! Take five minutes and get the vaccine so that COVID-19 variants do not take hold here. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the children.

Sandy Jackson, Garden City

Interfaith Sanctuary

It has been over four weeks since Mayor McLean announced the pause on Interfaith Sanctuary’s plans to relocate their large homeless shelter into the middle of a residential neighborhood on State Street. A task force was also announced to analyze needs and identify appropriate locations including other city properties.

After reaching out to the mayor’s office multiple times for updates and only receiving empty promises, I am concerned about this pause and task force. Half of the pause is gone, and no one from the neighborhood has been invited to participate in the task force.

The lack of transparency, communication and resident involvement makes me wonder if McLean’s pause and task force was simply designed to cause residents to lose interest in one of the largest homeless shelters in America going into their neighborhood.

And while Boise’s residents wait for information, Interfaith continues their vilifying rhetoric against their potential neighbors. Blaming them for everything that Interfaith risked when they decided to sell their existing building without having a permit in place for a new location.

Now is the time for transparency, honesty and fairness.

Gary D. Zimmerman, Boise

Proposed towers

A development-update article in the July 8 Statesman discusses an appeal to the Planning and Zoning Commission of the Design Review Committee’s approval of developer Tommy Ahlquist’s proposed towers, one 13 stories tall, on 4th and Bannock.

The article did not, however, include the reason for the appeal by Better Change for East Downtown. When this massive project recently came before the Design Review Committee, its members gave it unanimous approval without, by their own admission, having the benefit of specific details on the actual design elements! How could this happen? Isn’t the point of design review to evaluate the quality of a proposed project, how it will look when finished, and how it will fit into the neighborhood? Or can the developers just say, “trust us?”

The appeal will be heard at 6 p.m. on July 19. Written comments should be sent by July 14 to jgwilson@cityofboise.org. Mention Case DRH21-00144. Visit cityofboise.org/virtual-meetings to sign up to testify.

Linda Anderson, Boise

For the People Act

After the Senate vote, where not a single Republican senator voted for the For the People Act, I wrote Sen. Mike Crapo. I wanted him to know that I am greatly disturbed by the fact that certain states, including Idaho, are using gerrymandering techniques, and restrictive laws, to make it virtually impossible for minorities, and other, mainly Democratic voters, to vote. He wrote back to say that every state has to make laws that work for their voters. It is interesting, as he supported former President Trump’s efforts to question voting laws in certain states that he lost in, especially if they allowed mail in voting, during the pandemic, even though there was absolutely no evidence of fraud. Crapo brought up the false claim that there was evidence of votes by dead people, votes collected by political operatives which were later tossed. I guess that I should have mentioned in my letter that I am not an idiot, influenced by Trump’s debunked claims of voter fraud, or brainwashed by Fox News. Silly me! I stick by my statement that any senator who voted against the For the People Act proves by their actions that they are against the people!

Michal Voloshen, Boise